1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the functioning of a system with a number of consumer electronics units interconnected by a digital data network, where each of the units comprises a computer for controlling the functioning of the unit itself and the functioning in interplay with the other units in the network.
2. Description of Related Art
The huge amount of products that are available for daily use to support information access e.g. processing Internet news, music, movies, pictures, ordinary DVD's and CD's, media broadcasts, and telecommunication information raises a strong demand for intelligent and simple-to-use equipment, for accessing the user relevant information.
In use today is a system, where a single remote control can be adapted for use with different apparatuses, such as television, CD player, radio, which are all interconnected through a digital network. To ensure a proper interplay between the different electronic consumer units, the units, typically, need a special hardware configuration, which is a complicated process, normally, not made by the user but by a specially trained technician. This makes the configuration procedure complicated and expensive. Especially, a new hardware and software configuration is necessary when a new product is added to the network.
Thus, ease of installation, ease of upgrade, flexibility, and, optionally, adaptation to actual use patterns, as well as methods to support a user friendly access to the target information is strongly required. Features and technologies that secure an effective control processing with fast (real-time processing capability) and dynamic adaptable behaviours is a further demand.